Locomotive coaling structure



Julv 6, 1943. l. G. PLANT 2,323,4l9

LOGOMOTIVE COALING STRUCTURE Filed Ju1y 25, 1941 3 sheets-sheet 1 "IBB f July 6, 1943. y L. G. PLANT 2,323,419

LOCOMOTIVE COALING STRUCTURE Filed July 25, 1941 s sheets-sheetl 2 56.48. I la.

2 Suf/ r- /vfv m ww' July 6, 1943. L. G. PLANT A LOCOMOTIVE COALING STRUCTURE Filed July 25, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented `luly 6, 1943 2,323,4fit

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOCOMOTIVE COALING STRUCTURE Leland G. Plant, Washington, D. C.

Application July 25, 1941, Serial No. 404,093

Claims.

This invention relates to facilities used by railroads for storing a supply of coal in a bin from which it is deliverable by gravity to the tenders oi steam locomotives. The invention has for one of its objects to design a bin and its supporting structure, in which the weight of steel (or other structural materials used) is less in relation to storage capacity of the bin than in preceding constructions oi corresponding capacity and like structural standards. The present invention accomplishes certain economies not hitherto attained in the fabrication and erection of steel structures for the storage of coal in a position deliverable by gravity to locomotives. The invention is applicable to construction of an elevated storage and delivery bin with its supporting structure, in combination with a skip hoist mechanism or conveyor chains of other types used for filling the bin with coal elevated from a supply track at ground level. invention is particularly suited to the Redler type of conveyor chain employed as the elevating means for filling the bin with coal supplied from cars unloaded into a receiving hopper at ground level.

Locomotive coaling structures are subject to limitations in respect to their location and conditions of erection not applicable to bin structures employed in other services. Their yrelation to the railway tracks by which coal is supplied for storage overhead, whence it is deliverable by gravity to locomotives, and to the tracks for locornotives to be coaled in this manner, is determined by arbitrary clearance requirements, local to each State. These structures must be adapted to certain track arrangements suited to the movement of cars and locomotives. Erection of these structures must usually proceed Without interruption to the cars and locomotives on adjacent tracks. An object of this invention is to meet the limitations and conditions cited with greater facility than is possible in structures of the designs hitherto constructed.

This invention in its simplest form utilizes a cylindrical bin section by positio-ning and supporting it in a manner that is unique in its application to the particular service and conditions described.

Cylindrical bins of many designs have been proposed and used for the purpose of providing a storage for coal in a position from which it can be delivered by gravity to locomotives. But in all preceding structures subject to the conditions applicable to railway use, as above described, the means employed for chuting coal from the bin to The bin structure of my locomotives, by gravity, have involved either a reduction in the potential storage volume encompassed by the cylindrical wall structure erected about a vertical axis, due to an inclined iioor constructed within the cylinder, or the construction of an extension to the cylinder in the form of a cone sloping from the lower end of the vertical cylinder to an outlet, from which the coal can be chuted by gravity to a locomotive.

An instance of this limitation in the potential storage volume of a cylinder is found in structures of cylindrical shape rising vertically from a ground foundation and having an inclined floor built within the cylindrical shell at such a height that coal stored above this sloping flo-or within the cylinder will slide to an outlet on one side of the cylinder, whence it can be chuted by gravity into a locomotive tender standing on a track at one side of this cylindrical structure. In these structures the cylindrical wall below its intersec tion with the sloping floor is wasted as a container for the storage of coal and serves only as an inefficient structural support for the cylindrical storage above said oor. Moreover, the construction of these oors at other than a right angle t0 the axis of the cylinder, is complicated and expensive fabrication, requiring stiffener beams of suicient strength to support the entire Weight of coal piled vertically above it, without bending.

Another type of bin very commonly employed .in railway coaling stations for the storage of coal at an elevation from which it can be chuted by gravity to locomotives, has a shell cylindrically disposed about a vertical axis, said shell having either a concentric or an eccentrically sloped conical bottom appended thereto. These structures are supported by structural steel legs at an elevation such that coal stored therein can be chuted by gravity thru an outlet at the base of its conical bottom to a locomotive directly below or to one side by means of an inclined chute from said bin outlet. This construction is more economical in respect to weight of the steel shell in relation to its volumetric content than the construction irst described and eliminates the requirement for stiiener beams under the floor as in that design. The iloor is a self-supporting conical bottom hanging from the cylindrical shell section which, in turn, is Supported by structural legs rising from the ground foundation.

The present invention, as will be seen from the accompanying drawings, employs a bin which may consist simplyof a cylindrical shell with ilat This is the conventional construction for cylindrical tanks as commonly manufactured in all tank shops, requiring no special details for its fabrication by welding or riveted construction. In this design, the entire volume of a cylindrical shell is available for storage, thus providing a higher ratio of volume in relation to wall area than is obtainable in combinations of cones and cylinders of corresponding circumference.

This invention lies in adapting the simplest form of tank, i. e.-a cylindrical shell with ends 'perpendicular to its axis-to the requirements of a locomotive coaling structure, by supporting said tank on columns at such an inclined position above railway tracks that it can be completely lled with coal thru a single access opening and be completely emptied by pravity thru a single discharge opening, from which opening the coal can be chuted by gravity to a locomotive tender. The supply of coal to said access opening may be from cars unloaded into a track hopper below the bin and elevated to this opening by skip hoist or chain conveyor.

This construction and modifications thereof are illustrated by the following drawings, in which:

Fig. l is an elevation of the coal storage and delivery bin with its supporting structure, showing a typical construction of the invention assembled with a coal elevating conveyor chain of the Redler type for supplying the bin thru a single opening, to its full capacity, with coal from a car unloading track hopper shown in section, the bin being positioned to deliver its entire contents of coal by gravity, thru a single opening, to locomotives standing on a track at ground level.

Fig. 1A shows a saddle which may be made oi cast steel, with a bracket adapted to engage bin supporting columns, its side reverse to said bracket being curved to the cylindrical radius of a bin to which it is welded at an inclination such that one face of its bracket will lie fiat upon the top of a supporting column.

Fig. 1B is a side elevation of the saddle in preceding gure, showing the contour of the curved surface and its bracket in angular relation thereto.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the structure in Fig. l, and vertical section thru the bin, viewed in plane .Ei-X, showing said bin partially filled with coal supplied to it by a Redler conveyor chain thru a single opening in the floo'r of this bin.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation of the bin in Fig. l, Viewed in plane S, of Fig. 2, to show atypical arrangement of the conveyor chain in its relation to the bin as a means for supplying and filling it with coal elevated from a supply track below, thru a single opening in said bin.

Fig. 4 is the elevation of a coal storage and delivery bin with its supporting structure, showing another typical construction of the invention, here assembled with a conventionally designed skip hoist for supplying the 4bin thru a single opening at its top, to its full capacity with coal from a car unloading track hopper shown in section, the bin being positioned to deliver its entire contents of coal, thru a single opening with two spouts, to locomotives standing on either of two tracks below the bin.

Fig. 4A is a lower end view of the bin in Fig. 4, showing a at plate end construction of the cylindrical shell, with stiifener beam members. These beams may be eliminated by employing the dished end plate construction common to tank design, as shown in other drawings of the invention.

Fig. 4B is a cross-section thru the lower end structural unit of the cylindrical bin shell, viewed in plane Y-Y of Fig. 4A. This and the preceding figure show the outlet opening in the bin to which two outlet spouts and gate fixtures are attached, for discharging coal to locomotives on either of two tracks.

Fig. 4C is an elevation view of the upper end of the bin shell in Fig. 4, sho-wing columns on which the bin is supported by means of the saddle castings in Figs. 1A and 1B, and also showing guide members in the skip hoist shaftway of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4D shows the exterior of the mid-component structural unit of the bin in Fig. 4, disassembled from upper and lower end units, in a manner available to the invention, for facilitating shop fabrication and shipment of the bin in sections.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of an arrangement available to the invention wherein the bin structure of Fig.v l, is duplicated to serve locomotives on both of two tracks, one on each side of a coal hopper track, from which coal is supplied to the double bin by such means as a Redler conveyor chain.

Fig. 5A is an elevation of the coaling structure of which the preceding gure is a plan View, showing this bin, the conveyor and the coal supply track hopper in section.

In these drawings, numerals are used to designate the principal parts essential to this invention, as follows:

I, bin, elevated for coal storage and delivery to locomotives.

Ia, shell of bin I.

2, bin, lower end, dished.

3, bin, lower end, flat and stiiened.

3a, bin, end stiffener beams.

4, bin, upper end plate.

5, bin, dividing lines between structural units and angle iiange.

6, columns and cross-braced structure for supporting bin.

I, saddle, Welded to cylindrical bin shell and resting upon bin supporting columns.

7a, strut member, in compression between cylindrical sides of bin.

8, gate and hinged delivery spout, from bin to locomotives.

S, tracks on which locomotives are coaled.

I0, track on which coal is supplied to unloading hopper.

H, hopper for receiving coal from supply cars.

I2, conveyor chain for elevating coal from track unloading hopper.

I3, drive sprocket for conveyor chain I2.

I3a, housing for drive sprocket I3 and chain I 2.

I3b, casing for conveyor chain I2.

I4, skip hoist bucket for elevating coal from hopper I I, into bin I, shown in dumping position above bin.

Ida, housing for bucket shaftway.

I4b, guides for bucket shaftway.

I 4c, bucket (same as I4, but shown in broken lines to indicate loading position below track hopper).

I5, loader, for charging bucket from track unloading hopper.

In the constructions illustrated and other possible modications of the invention, a common structural characteristic is that the bin is annular, with its lower end substantially perpendicular to its axis, as in the conventional design of cylindrical tanks. In these constructions, the lower ends may be dished, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, or at and stiened with beams, as shown in Figs. 4 and 4A. The upper ends of these bins may be fiat and perpendicular to their axis without requiring stiieners, or may be omitted entirely by combining two tank cylinders in a single bin structure, as in Fig. 5. Also, the upper end may be inserted at an inclination to the cylindrical axis of the bin, as shown in Fig. 4, to accommodate a skip hoist with vertical shaftway (an unnecessary modification if the skip shaftway is built on an incline, as the conveyor casing of Fig. l)

tanks for the purpose of a locomotive coaling structure, so that they can be completely lled from a single discharge point, without having to build inclined floors therein or fabricate conical bottoms, lies in placing the cylindrical axis of the bin at an inclination approximating the angle of repose to which the coal ows from the discharge point. If the point at which the coal is delivered into the bin is at the highest point therein, then the entire volume of the bin can be filled by elevating coal to this point. Also, the bin can be completely emptied by gravity thru an opening at its lowest point, without the necessity for valleys or slopes being built inside the bin walls.

When the bin is loaded by means of a skip hoist, the customary procedure is to load the bucket automatically, from a track unloading hopper at ground level and to elevate the bucket in a shaftway exterior to the bin. At the top of this shaftway the bucket is guided into a tilted position so as to dump its contents thru a hatch at the highest level in the bin shell, from which point the bin can be completely filled in this manner. Cylindrical bins placed upright, as heretofore used, cannot be thus lled from a single point unless the bin is surmounted by a conical roof having slopes approximating the angle at which the coal will flow away from the opening. The same applies to rectangular bins which must either have a roof structure built up to an angle at which the coal will 'low, or as is usually the case, leave a vacant space of considerable volume below the roof.

When conveyor chains of the Redler type are employed for elevating the coal from the track hopper, this coal may enter the bin thru an opening in the underside of its cylindrical shell and be drawn up thru the body of coal already in the bin (as is the customary practice in operating conveyors of this type), until it reaches the highest elevation inside the bin. From this point, coal discharged from the conveyor chain will now parallel to the axis line of the cylindrical bin shell and completely fill the bin. If the conveyor casing were extended up to this point inside the bin, the same result would be accomplished except that in the process all of the coal would have to be elevated to this height and breakage of coal would be increased due to lumps of coal falling from this point to the bin oor or to the surface of coal in a partially filled bin. This arrangement, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5A, provides an overflow feature which allows coal to fall over into the casing thru which the conveyor chain returns to the supply hopper, and thus removes from the bin surplus coal that would overll the bin should the conveyor be kept running after the bin is normally full.

is The key to utilizing these simple cylindrical The present invention, without restricting the potential storage volume within a cylindrical shell, enables the bin to be placed at a lower elevation than cylindrically shaped bins of equivalent capacity disposed about a vertical axis. In the structures of this invention, the gated discharge outlet opens directly into the main storage space within the bin and the hinged delivery chute to locomotives leads directly from this outlet point. Where cylindrical bins are erected about a vertical axis, either with sloping oors constructed within the cylindrical shell or conical bottoms fabricated below the cylindrical shell, it is necessary to support the main storage body at a greater height so that the coal will flow by gravity over the sloping iioor plates or its conical sub-structure, to an outlet gate from which point the coal can be delivered to the locomotive over a hinged chute.

The economy of this invention lies further in its adaptation to shop assembly of the bin structure which under certain conditions will substantially reduce its cost of construction over structures that are entirely fabricated in a shop for shipment to the site of erection in separate pieces to be assembled by riveting or welding in the field. The usual limitation upon shop assembly of bins, such as cylindrical tanks, is the maximum diameter of shell that can be transported on railway cars. This limitation is generally between 10 and 11 feet diameter. But by shop assembling the cylindrical bin in several sections divided transversely to the axis, as shown separately in Figs. 4A and 4D, and indicated by the dividing lines 5, in Figs. 4 and 5A, a diameter of 12 feet or more can be used, provided the length of each section does not exceed 10 or 1l feet. These separate units may be furnished with flanges 5, shop applied to stiifen their open edges and facilitate assembly in the field, first by bolting these flanges together and then welding or riveting them. A feature of this construction is that all seams, particularly those exposed to the corrosive action of coal within the bin, may be sealed with a continuous welded bead in the completed structure.

This invention leads to a very economical procedure in the erection of coaling structures. The practice long in effect has been to shop fabricate each piece of steel used, by cutting and punching it forassembly by riveting in the eld. Starting at ground level the supporting columns are rst erected and then the bin plates added piece by piece, each being rst bolted in place and then permanently riveted. The size of coaling structures has made it impractical to assemble any considerable number of these parts in the shop and their design was such that groups of parts could not generally be assembled on the ground and lifted into position where they could be bolted in place and subsequently riveted as a part of the completed bin structure. In some instances it has been found practical to erect bins of 50 tons coal storage capacity, by lifting rst one half and then the other half of the bin structure into place by means of a crane, after assembly of these parts on the ground.

In the present invention, column supports for the coaling structure can first be set up with the top ends of each beam made ready to receive a bracket of saddle '1. Then, by employing a bridge crane of approximately E30-foot boom length, as commonly used by railroads for bridge work, the entire cylindrical bin, as constructed in a shop, or the units of which have been assembled on the ground at site of erection, with saddles 1, welded on, can be lifted into position above its supporting structure, with a bracket 1, resting on the top of each column in this supporting structure. Specic examples of this construction may be cited, where a cylindrical tank 10 ftjin diameter by l5 ft. long, to hold 30 tons of coal, is shipped from a shop completely fabricatedand lifted by crane, direct from a railway car, to its permanent position in a coaling structure of the type illustrated in Fig. l. To construct a coaling structure of 50 tons coal storage capacity, in the same arrangement as shown in Fig. 1, two tanks, each l2 ft. in diameter by 9 ft. long, are shop fabricated, each with one closed end, the other end open but flanged. On arrival lat the site, these open ends are first bolted together around their flanges and then welded, to make a single cylindrical bin, 118 ft. long by 12 ft. in diameter. Saddle brackets 1, are #then welded upon its exterior shell and outlet xtures attached. By means of a sling, wrapped around this cylinder at approximately its mid point, the' entire bin is picked up by a crane and lifted into place upon its supporting columns.

Viewed in a vertical plane, a cross-section of the cylindrical bin structure in this invention shows that the wall structure in relation to the weight of coal vertically above it, is in the contour of `an ellipse, approaching the paraboloid shape employed in the well known so-called Berquist bin structures wherein loose materials are carried upon a structure of plates hung, as a sling, between two parallel beams. This system of plates is wholly in tension and when the bin is loaded to its heaped capacity, the outward pressure of the material against the beams counteracts the tendency of the plates suspended therefrom, to draw them together. But when this bin is only partially loaded with loose material, its weight, concentrated upon the center trough of the bin, tends to draw the beams from which suspended, together and the structure must be braced accordingly. In the present invention, struts, la, may be placed horizontally inside the bin as shown in Fig. 2, preferably between saddles 'l as oppositely disposed upon the exterior of the cylindrical bin structure, to prevent the sides of the bin from being drawn together due to weight of coal lying in the trough of the bin when same is partially loaded. When fully loaded with coal, the outward pressure of coal against these sides counteracts the force tending to draw them together due to the weight of coal upon the bottom of the cylinder,

I claim:

1. A locomotive coaling structure including a shop fabricated bin member comprising an inclined cylinder, the planes of whose ends are substantially perpendicular to its central axis, and means for rigidly supporting said cylinder at an angle to the horizontal slightly greater than the angle of repose of the material to be stored therein, said bin having an inlet opening at the highest point thereof and a discharge opening at the lowest point whereby the entire volume of said cylinder may be completely filled by material entering from the highest point therein, and may be completely evacuated by allowing material to flow by gravity from the lowest point therein.

2. In a locomotive coaling structure, a shop fabricated bin section comprising an inclined cylinder the planes of whose ends are substantially perpendicular to its central axis, and means for rigidly supporting said cylinder at an angle to the horizontal slightly greater than the angle of repose of the granular material to be stored therein, whereby the entire volume of the bin section may be evacuated by allowing the granular material to now by gravity from the lowest part thereof.

3. A locomotive coaling structure including a plurality of inclined shop fabricated cylindrical sections as defined in claim 2 secured end to end.

4. A locomotive coaling structure including a pair of oppositely inclined bin sections as set forth in claim 2, said bin sections having a common supply chamber and separate outlets whereby two locomotives may be served at one time.

5. In a locomotive coaling structure, a shop fabricated bin membercomprising an inclined cylinder, the plane of whose lower end is substantially perpendicular to its central axis, and means for rigidly supporting said cylinder at an angle to the horizontal slightly greater than the angle of repose of the material stored therein, said bin having an inlet opening at its highest point and a discharge opening at the lowest portion thereof, whereby the entire volume of the bin may be completely filled by material entering from the said inlet and may be completely evacuated by allowing the material to flow by gravity from the lowest portion thereof.

LELAND Ci. PLANT. 

